Let's Hear It For The Boys
Casual Male Big & Tall has changed its name to Casual Male XL to move away from the stigma of having the word big in the store name. Although of course no women's plus-size store would ever have the word "big" in the name (I refuse to go into Dress Barn due to the cow connotations) it simply had never occurred to me that men might have a similar feeling.
"We actually had people say, 'Do you have a paper bag I can use?'... They didn't feel comfortable having to walk down the street with a plastic bag with that big yellow logo and the words 'big and tall.'"
The move has already increased sales at the stores by 11%.
"We actually had people say, 'Do you have a paper bag I can use?'... They didn't feel comfortable having to walk down the street with a plastic bag with that big yellow logo and the words 'big and tall.'"
The move has already increased sales at the stores by 11%.
posted by mo pie at 10:03 AM
7 Comments:
I’m not surprised that men might be sensitive to the name of the store and its connotations. Does anyone else remember the Simpsons episode when Homer gained a lot of weight and went to shop and a big and tall store that cared nothing but ponchos and muumuus? I can see the customers and the company wanting to get away from that image. However I am a little surprised that the people who shop there for the tall section were so embarrassed. My father has shopped there for years because of his height, he is 6’6’’and an average weight for his height, and I have a hard time imagining him being embarrassed seen with a big and tall since any one with eyes could see that he is tall.
"The move has already increased sales at the stores by 11%."
Just shows how very very much how many "looks" issues are pure, RELATIVE perception.
Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but I SO feel it, because when I'm in NYC or LA, I'm "fat", but when I'm traveling in the Midwest I'm not necessarily perceived that way, not so much.
That's why I'm so in favor of blocking out most of the "fashion" static. Like the Dress Barn thing - I've gotten size 8s there(when I fit in them). Does it look good? Does it fit? Block out the store name, cut out your (*&^%$#@ size tags, and MOVE ON.
I'm sure this view may be somewhat controversial, and I don't mean it to be, but I'm all for the coping skills that just leave us less stressed at the end of the day. I mean, don't we have enough to deal with?
Hi
No problem
http://www.bigandtallmart.com/
http://www.bigtalldirect.com/index_768.htm
Simply never buy anything from Casual Male again
William
Long time reader, first time poster! ;o) I just wanted to say "ditto" to the Dress Barn sentiment. The first time I saw one, I imagined that the racks were filled with muumuus for every occasion.
Mmmyeah. I'm not that surprised that guys would be embarrassed about that sort of thing, because I know a very tall (6'8) guy who hates having his height brought up in conversation, because it makes him feel selfconscious - even though there's no stigma attached to being tall. He's just sick of it as a topic of conversation.
There's only one really well-known plus-size-only retailer in the UK - Evans. I never went in there during the years when I was highly selfconscious about my weight, because I just couldn't bring myself to walk into the "fat shop" (even though I'd never have used that term for it even to myself, that was what I was thinking).
A year ago, having got over all that (and also, as it happens, dropped out of their size range) I bought some boots there. I have chunky calves and have difficulty finding boots that will go over them.
The plastic bag didn't have any lettering on it. At all. Just a printed design. Evidently Evans agree that you wouldn't want to be seen carrying one of their bags. Does that mean they buy into the idea that shopping there is a stigma? Or are they just being pragmatic?
I thought this was kind of sad, and said so to my mother. She told me that she could rememeber when the name of the store was "Evans Outsizes".
OK, maybe I wouldn't want to carry a bag with that written on it.
Aw. I can certainly understand not wanting to carry around a bag reading "Big and Tall," but I had kind of found it refreshing that men's stores could be so open about their aims. (I doubt I'd feel this way if I were old enough to have ever had to shop in the "Huskies" section, but instead I'm tired of euphemisms.)
Anyway, now when I drive past the store, I'll no longer be compelled to recite, "Casual male, big and tall, how does your garden grow?"
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